An ongoing issue at service establishments such as restaurants, bars and the like is the difficulty patrons have communicating to someone on the waitstaff their readiness to pay their bill so that they may depart from the restaurant at their convenience. This is especially problematic in establishments with high customer to server ratios. Not infrequently a patron must devote considerable time and effort to making eye contact with or hailing someone on the waitstaff to collect payment. This problem is compounded by the inherent features of payment folders which have the same appearance whether or not payment is enclosed therein. Even an attentive server is forced to guess whether the bill is ready for settlement or to inquire repeatedly. In addition to the difficulty patrons have in signaling their readiness for payment, is their inability to signal the appropriate sense of urgency requested. All of these factors lead to customer frustration and dissatisfaction, as well as reduced server efficiency.
Devices to signal servers in restaurants and bars are not unknown, and fall into two general categories. One category of signaling devices includes lamps placed on each patron's table and which are illuminated or modified when service is desired. Examples of these devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,250,491 to Dotson; 3,967,274 to Howell; and 3,558,871 to Rogers. One disadvantage of table lamps is their relatively high unit cost which must be multiplied by the number of tables in the restaurant or lounge. For a large establishment this represents a considerable investment.
The other category of signaling devices is a permanently installed system that includes signal buttons at each table or seat and a single signal panel or control unit. Systems of this type are detailed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,777,488 to Carlman, Jr. et al.; 4,222,111 to Sloan et al.; 3,821,707 to Peters; and 3,810,164 to Lambert. These systems share the "one for each table" cost penalty of the table lamps, and incur additional cost penalties associated with complex permanent wiring and installation. Furthermore, these systems must be customized and do not lend themselves to relatively inexpensive, off-the-shelf sales by restaurant suppliers. Accordingly, these complex systems are not widely used.
An inexpensive, non-permanent signaling device for communicating with a server could find wide application by restaurant owners striving to improve customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, such a device does not presently exist.